U.s. Economy

April 14, 1985|By Ned Popkins

MIXED SIGNALS. U.S. retail sales dropped 1.9 percent from February to March, the steepest decline in more than seven years. Reaction: the economy, while healthy, is far from vigorous. Mixed signals in several other recent reports have confused investors and raised the possibility of a gathering economic slowdown. Good news: Wholesale prices edged up 0.2 percent in March, part of the best yearly performance in two decades for business inflation. Since March 1984, the Producer Price Index, measuring nearly 3,400 kinds of goods sold in bulk, has climbed only 0.3 percent -- the smallest increase for any 12-month period since the 12 months ended January 1965. Other indicators: business inventories grew 0.4 percent in February, faster than the month's 0.2 percent increase in sales; consumers added a record $10.4 billion to their outstanding installment loans in February, bringing the total to $470 billion.